


How It Goes Down

by greywardenblue



Series: Playing with Dead Things [4]
Category: The Arcana (Visual Novel)
Genre: Canonical Character Death, F/F, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-22
Updated: 2017-10-22
Packaged: 2019-01-21 07:49:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,024
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12452868
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/greywardenblue/pseuds/greywardenblue
Summary: Count Lucio is murdered in his own room by someone close to him, and he doesn't find out why.





	How It Goes Down

This is how it goes down.

Estela grows up with a single mother. They aren't desperately poor, but poor enough to have very few opportunities when it comes to Estela's education, which is a shame because she is born with incredible magical potential. A diamond in the rough, if you will.

The part of Estela's magic that comes most naturally to her is charming people to get what she wants, not necessarily in a sexual way. It doesn't always work, but it gets them money, food, clothes and other things sometimes, so it's a nice addition to her mother's wages.

Estela's mother is working as a housekeeper at an ambassador's estate when she is murdered, most likely caught in the crossfire between the ambassador and the mercenaries coming to kill him. Estela is devastated and alone. While she doesn't make it her life's mission to get revenge on the killers, she's definitely not going to be kind if she comes across them.

Many people are fascinated by magic, but it's the rich people fascinated by magic who have the best resources. Rumour has it the new Count of Vesuvia is one of these people, so there's bound to be something interesting in that library of theirs, right?

The Count holding an open party for his birthday is the perfect opportunity for Estela to get into the palace and the best opportunity she'll ever have to get into the library, or so she thinks. Her plans change when she ends up in bed with both the Count and the Countess on the same night.

The next day, Estela wakes up early and starts putting the room in order, to both Nadia and Lucio's amusement. She acts flustered and tells them she just wanted to be nice, and Nadia jokes about her becoming a maid at the palace. Estela takes it seriously. (The plan is working.)

Estela becomes Nadia's favourite servant, at least one of the Count's and Countess's favourite lovers, and the person unofficially in charge of managing both Nadia's and Lucio's other conquests to make sure everyone is being subtle and not leading to a scandal. (She has to have several conversations with Lucio about the definition of subtle, but it never really sticks.)

She's only a maid and a mistress, but she's more than that. She's a favourite and a close confidante to both Nadia and Lucio, knowing more about the two and their strange relationship than most people at the palace, often passing notes or intentions between them. (She only reads the notes once in a while before passing them on.)

She becomes genuinely attached to both of them, although her feelings towards Nadia are stronger and arguably more romantic in nature.

She's lying naked in Lucio's arms one day, her body still tingling from their earlier activities when he starts talking to her about his marks and she gets suspicious. After a few subtle questions, she realises with horror that Lucio was the one who killed her mother.

She's disgusted and conflicted, but she cannot show it. Thanks to the library and the magicians Lucio sometimes invites, she's confident in her own powers and she's been fantasizing about getting revenge for her mother. She's also fantasized about Lucio falling down some stairs and her getting to marry Nadia in his place, but she's never thought about killing him, and even with this new knowledge, she's not sure if she truly wants him dead.

Lucio falls sick around this time and invites people from all over in and outside of Vesuvia to find a cure for the plague, destroying the whole city as well as himself. It's very likely he's going to die even without Estela lifting a finger, and she accepts it with a mix of guilt and satisfaction.

Then, the research takes a turn and it looks like they might actually find a cure. That little event is what Estela needs to realise she doesn't want Lucio to recover. Killing him shouldn't be too hard, given her growing powers, her access to everywhere in the palace, and his weakened condition. (But what will Nadia think? Perhaps she wouldn't cry for her husband, but what would she think of his killer?)

She's lying naked in Lucio's arms on the night of the masquerade, earlier than usual. She whispers dirty things in his ear as she grows magic vines out of nowhere to tie him to the bed. He likes being the dominant one, but by now Estela knows it only takes the right people to turn it back on him. (Nadia and her have been the right people on many occasions. Sometimes at once.)

He doesn't realise something's wrong until it's too late and he can't get free. She leaves through the portal leading to the garden without looking back and locks it behind her, just in case he gets free. (He doesn't.)

She did what she needed to do - so why does she feel sick to her stomach? Why does she feel like she can never look Nadia in the eyes again, even if she never finds out?

She's strong enough to wipe the memories of everyone who could ever put it together that she had something to do with Lucio's death. She's not refined enough to make sure the list doesn't include her. (That is her first mistake. Or second, depending on how you _count_.)

Asra has been a friend for a time, but he becomes her lifeline in the three years with no memory of who she is. When she is invited to the palace by the Countess to discover the Count's murder, she comes for the perks like the clothes, food and-- access to the library. (Some things don't change.)

She works with the Countess and the Count's ghost to find the murderer, leading each other in the dark with none of them remembering. She falls in love with both of them, alive or dead.

There are many people trying to crack the mystery, but she's the first one who puts it together, the puzzle pieces in her hand clicking into place. The world spins around her.


End file.
